'Let me feel': (dis)encounters between sexuality and the field of mental health in Brazilian periodicals (2001-2014)

Author(s)

Juliana Cristina Bessa

• Document type: Master's Dissertation
• Press: Assis. 2017-05-19.
• Institution: Universidade Estadual Paulista (Unesp). Faculdade de Ciências e Letras. Assis
• Defense date: 2017-03-24
• Advisor: Fernando Silva Teixeira Filho

Abstract

Studies on sexuality in the madness scenario still remain incipient, demonstrating a gap in this field of discussion. The problem of Mental Health, in all its crossings, is configured as a broad and complex field, in which we can think of Mental Health as a device of bodies regulation. The so-called psychopathological manifestations of people in psychic suffering are controlled through discourses, as well as the various expressions of sexuality that also undergo some kind of control or negation. In a number of situations, these people are interdicted in relation to their desires, because they are considered sick, in treatment, not being "authorized" to desire, to want and to feel. From this perspective, stands out the notoriety of how some bodies are invalidated by disciplinary practices that dictate the rules of what is right or wrong, that do not allow those bodies to be affected. In this way, this device invests in means of control directed to the production of bodies and ways of life. Thus, through the studies of gender and sexuality and the technique of content analysis, we aim to problematize the discourses that have been produced in relation to sexuality issues in the field of Mental Health, through scientific articles indexed in the databases of SciELO and LILACS, between the years 2001 and 2014. Through the readings and exploration of the material, we selected 21 articles, from a total of 2.336 (928 SciElo and 1.408 LILACS). After reading, the articles went through a process of inclusion and exclusion according to established criteria. Once selected, the articles were classified into three categories: 1.Sexuality and Vulnerability: "risk behavior", HIV / AIDS prevention in mental health; 2. Perceptions / Social Representations that guide the performance of professionals on the issues of sexuality; 3. Sexual Violence/Behaviors and its associations with "mental disorders".; These categories allows to systematize the contents referring to the themes, as well as verify and reflect what have been (re) produced in this field. In general, we observe how the discourse classifies, pathologizes and diagnoses the expressions of gender and sexuality of people in psychic suffering, from a biomedical hygienist care tied to the notions of sexual practices and prevention policies. We verified an absence of problematizations and scientific productions of these issues in the field of Mental Health. Thus, we intend that our discussions allow greater visibility and importance to these issues for the constitution of resistance practices through articulation between sexuality and Mental Health, based on the perspective of Psychosocial Attention. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 14/26746-1 - Let me feel: the (non) dialog between the dispositive of sexualities and the dispositive of psychosocial attention
• Grantee: Juliana Cristina Bessa
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master